Spicy
by Zaybeth
Summary: Edgeworth and Phoenix stumble home after a night out drinking and decide to cook themselves a curry. A quick oneshot writen for the kink meme.


Both men were over at Edgeworth's apartment after a long day at court. One celebratory drink had turned to two, and that had turned into many more until Edgeworth was completely unwilling to let Phoenix go home alone. The man was a total lightweight, something Edgeworth had told him many times over their glasses. The two of them had left the bar to the not quite darkness that was the norm in every city, Edgeworth concentrating, but pretending not to, on the placement of one foot after another and Phoenix leaning heavily on his shoulder, muttering something about Maya's hair beads, and how distracting they were.

Edgeworth let out a sigh and sat his inebriated friend down on a bench while he fished around in his pockets for his cell. There was absolutely no way he was going to risk his precious car by driving slightly, and yes, it was slightly, drunk. He finished talking to the chirpy and upbeat tm computerised voice, one of the things that Edgeworth found completely irksome, if they were going to spend money on some infernal machine they should at least endeavour to make it less annoying. He sat down on the bench next to Phoenix to wait for the cab, defiantly not slouching, intoxication was no excuse for bad posture. He glanced over at the other man and unintentionally let out a small smile, seeing him like this reminded him of their shared childhood, slumped over and humming some ridiculous song, and almost certainly feeling the first symptoms of a hangover, both of them waiting in the cold, drenched in neon light, but both of them smiling.

Yes, it was the smiling, because no matter how much he forgot about his childhood, he was sure he would remember the copious amounts of alcohol and songs... about hedgehogs? Phoenix was more out of it than he thought. He gently shook his friends shoulder, even if Phoenix was comfortable with the reputation as a drunkard, Edgeworth most defiantly was not.

"Wright, for the love of god, stop singing that song. People will think you're insane as well as drunk"

It was ridiculous really, Edgeworth thought, they'd become closer than ever over the months following Von Karma's arrest, but he found himself unable to drop the last name addresses. He even thought of the spiky haired man as 'Phoenix' in his head, but it was as if his mouth automatically converted it to 'Wright'.

"Wazzat? Ed'worth?" Phoenix gave himself a shake, and sat up straighter, "Waz wrong with m' song? 's a fine drinking trad.. tradit..."

"Tradition? Perhaps when inebriates like yourself go out drinking"

"Ah...! but," here Phoenix raised a finger and waved it unsteadily under Edgeworth's nose. "You sir, 're quickerly becomin' an inebriate like m'self." He grinned and slumped down again, his spiky head coming to rest on Edgeworth's magenta shoulder.

Edgeworth sighed again and looked around for the cab he'd called. As luck would have it, he saw the approaching headlights swing around the corner and come to a stop just in front of them. He nudged Phoenix again, pulling him off the bench when he only mumbled. Somehow he managed to get the what seemed like 2 ½ left footed defence attorney into the cab without too much effort, gave the driver his address, and within half an hour they were stumbling out of the cab and up the steps to Edgeworth's apartment.

As Edgeworth was standing in front of his door, searching his pockets for his keys, _Why is it that pockets always seem to get bigger after drinking, anyway? _Phoenix straightened up and blinked blearily at the door.

"Hang on, Ed'worth, this isn't m' place..."

"Of course it isn't, you drunkard" Edgeworth had finaly found his keys, and was now trying to fit them into the key hole. _Pockets get bigger and key holes get smaller_.

"This is my place, you didn't have the money for cab fare, and it will be a cold day in hell before I pay for you. Besides, if I left you alone, you'd probably end up doing something stupid, like trying to clean the toilet and then falling in." Edgeworth smiled at _that_ memory.

"Ah, Miles, ya tight bastard." He grinned up at Edgeworth, still leaning heavily on his shoulder. "An' tha' only happened once."

Edgeworth stiffened at his first name, but then smiled, Phoenix had no qualms about first names, he was 'Miles' to Phoenix. His thoughts were interrupted by the click of the lock turning over. Finally.

"Come on" he said, wrapping his arm around Phoenix and dragging him inside. "If we stay on the doorstep any longer the neighbours will start to talk"

"Talk 'bout what, Miles?" Phoenix chuckled, or maybe it was a giggle, "'bout you bein' drunk, or 'bout you bringin' han'som ol' me home late a' night?"

"Oh, shut up, you drunk" Edgeworth set the other man down on the couch and turned away so he couldn't see the pink tinge on his cheeks. _Not that he'd notice, the drunkard_.

"I'm going to bet you some water, you'll thank you in the morning"

Phoenix's only response was to slouch down further on the couch and mumble something unintelligible. Edgeworth walked slowly towards the kitchen, still having to concentrate on his feet, but not, he noticed pleased, as much as he had to before. He went through the cupboards and pulled out a large glass and filled it with water, he'd be damned if he was going to deal with a hung over Phoenix tomorrow morning.

Taking the glass back to Phoenix, he found the spiky haired man rifling through his DVD cabinet and was instantly glad he'd put his Steel Samurai collection away in his room.

"Here." He handed Phoenix the glass and closed the cabinet, "and stop snooping, it's not like you're going to find anything incriminating."

"Oh really..." Phoenix said with a smirk, but drank down the glass anyway.

No sooner than he had handed the glass back however, Phoenix's stomach growled loud enough for Pess, who was sleeping in the corner, to lift up his head.

"Heh, guess m' kinda hungry too" Phoenix scratched the back of his head and grinned, a habit of his that Edgeworth found endearing, not that he'd ever tell the spiky haired man.

"I don' spose you've got any lefto'ers I could eat...?" Phoenix trailed off, still grinning.

"I don't do leftovers, Wright, as you well know." Edgeworth glared. "But, I can cook us something, sit down and watch a DVD or something"

"Aww, no way, I wanna help" Phoenix whined.

"Help? In your state you'd be more of a hindrance." Edgeworth snapped, fighting back a smile at the thought of cooking with Phoenix. He turned back towards the kitchen, fully expecting the other man to give in and collapse onto the couch.

"Fine, but I at least wan' to watch." Phoenix chirped, following Edgeworth and plonking down on one of the bar stools that lined the kitchen counter.

"Suit yourself, just try not to fall off, I don't want to have to pick you up." Edgeworth said, while pulling on an apron that was unashamedly pink and frilly. He could feel Phoenix's smirk from the other side of the room and let out a sigh.

"We've been through this, Wright, wearing pink does nothing to diminish my masculinity, so you can wipe that smirk off your face."

He heard Phoenix chuckle and could tell without looking that he was scratching the back of his head again and was glad he wasn't facing him, his cheeks didn't need to be any more pink than they already were.

Within minutes the kitchen was filled with the smell of cooking meat mixed with a rainbow of spices, paprika, turmeric, curry paste and the sound of half drunken banter. Even though Edgeworth could feel Phoenix's eyes following him, he wasn't annoyed, far from it, ashamed as he was to admit, he liked this feeling of domesticity.

In what seemed like no time at all, Edgeworth set two plates on the bar, steamed white rice covered in a thick curry, the smells were almost as intoxicating as the drinks had been. Indian food was one of Edgeworth's favourite things to eat, after eating Indian, everything else seemed bland and tasteless. He smiled as he sat down next to Phoenix, even though he'd complained about having to cook for the man this late at night, now that he could smell the food sitting in front of him, he was glad for Phoenix's insistence.

Looking over at the spiky haired lawyer, it appeared his sentiments were not shared. Phoenix was staring down at his plate with confusion tinged with disgust.

"Uh, Ed'worth, wat exat'ly is this?" He said, prodding at the curry, eyebrows furrowed.

"It's a curry, Wright, beef rogan josh, to be exact."

"Okaaay," Phoenix prodded at the meal again, "Is it y'know, safe, t' eat?"

Edgeworth gave him a disparaging look and swallowed a spoonful of his meal

"Yes, Wright, I believe that it's edible. Although, it's a bit spicy."

Edgeworth got up to fill his and Phoenix's water glasses, half for himself and half in anticipation of Phoenix's reaction, if the man had never seen a curry before, he'd hate to think how he was going to deal with a concoction that made Edgeworth's, cast iron stomach and all, eye's water.

As he set the now full glasses of water down, he watched Phoenix's face with fascination as he swallowed a spoonful of curry. Suspicion, surprise and horror flashed across the other man's face before stuck out his tongue and groped for the water glass.

"I did say it was spicy" Edgeworth said, trying very hard not to smirk as Phoenix chugged down the water.

"Bastard, wha' re you trin' to do? Kill me?"

"Far from it, think of it as a chance to expand your culinary palette beyond frozen meals and hamburgers."

"You're an ass, it feels like m' tongues on fir, far... 's burnin'"

Edgeworth sighed, who would have known that Phoenix's mouth was so sensitive... his thoughts trailed off into the gutter making his cheeks flush again. He quickly turned towards the fridge, searching for something that would help the complaining man sitting at his bar.

"Here, eat some of this, it will help with the spice." He placed a container of chunky white paste in front of the man.

Phoenix however eyed the container with even more suspicion than he had the curry.

"Wha' is it?" he huffed, clearly under the assumption that Edgeworth was doing this on purpose.

"It's called Tzatziki, Wright, it's a yoghurt and cucumber dip and it will help with the burning."

"So you say..." Phoenix grumbled, still eying the white paste suspiciously.

Whatever was going through Phoenix's drink addled skull, he must have decided that trying the dip couldn't possibly make things any worse, so he scooped up some of the Tzatziki with one of his fingers and sucked on it.

"Hey, this innit too bad." Phoenix said, smiling now that the burn of the curry had receded.

Edgeworth could only grunt in reply, his eyes trailing Phoenix's finger, which he was still licking. His cheeks flushed, Edgeworth hunched over his curry and shovelled spoonful of the stuff in his mouth, mentally berating himself.

Phoenix could only stare, he had seen the colour in his friends cheeks, and though the drunken haze, something clicked and his mouth curled into a smirk around a, this time, very small spoonful of curry. He watched as Edgeworth finished his glass of water and noticed that he was looking rather red, and not just because of his blush.

"Looks like 's too spicy f'r you too, Miles Beetworth." Edgeworth's eyes narrowed as Phoenix's smirk grew larger.

"Shut up, Wright" he grumbled, reaching for the Tzatziki container.

Phoenix snatched it away just before his fingers touch it however, holding it up high like it was a trophy.

"Nuh uh, Miles" he said, waving his finger again.

"Wright..." Edgeworth growled, reaching for the container that was just out of reach. It wasn't as if he really needed the stuff, he could handle the curry just fine, but Phoenix was being childish and that just riled Edgeworth up.

Phoenix dipped his finger in the stuff again, and brought it to his lips and sucked, longer and more languorously than last time.

"It's re'ly good stuff, too bad 's mine now." He grinned around his finger as he saw Edgeworth's eyes glass over, following his fingertip as it ran along his lips.

"Wright-"

"But ya can have some, if ya want." Phoenix dipped his finger in the container yet again, and held it out to Edgeworth, a glob of white paste sitting on the end.

"Don't be absurd, Wright."

"Fine. suit, yur self den." Phoenix turned away in a pretend huff, sucking on his finger. He watched Edgeworth out of the corner of his eye, a rainbow of emotions flickering across his face. Phoenix smirked and let his eyes fall closed and let loose a small moan as he popped his finger out of his mouth.

"Wright- you- " Edgeworth choked.

"Mmm?" Phoenix opened one eye questionably at his friend, all the while running his finger along his bottom lip.

"I swear Wright, you- I'm- I will not be held accountable if..." Edgeworth trailed off, still watching Phoenix's finger trace his lip.

"If wat, Miles?" Phoenix asked, his tongue flicking out to lick at the tip of his finger.

Edgeworth snapped, latter on he would blame his action on the drink, on how late it was, but mostly he would blame Phoenix, the damnable tease.

He launched himself at the other man, one hand coming out to grab Phoenix's arm and pull that teasing finger away from those lips.

"This." Edgeworth breathed, close enough now that he could feel the other man's breath on his cheeks and smell the dip and curry that it carried. He inched his head closer and flicked his tongue out to lick Phoenix's lip, following the trail his finger had just vacated.

Phoenix let out a small moan and kissed back, his eyelids fluttering down. Soft lips worked against each other, tongues twisted and hot breaths puffed against cheeks. Edgeworth slid his hand up from Phoenix's wrist and up to his shoulder, then neck, then to those spikes that he found so endearing, fingers burying themselves in the other mans' hair. When the two men broke apart, Phoenix smiled lazily up at Edgeworth, his eyes still half closed.

"You taste spicy." He murmured, burying his face in the other mans' neck.

"Mmm..." murmured Edgeworth, his mind still working to catch up with his body. He could smell the mixture of Phoenix's hair gel and soap, and it was doing nothing for his concentration.

"I, uh... You, well, we..." _Stammering, well, surely that was one step up from mumbling, right_?

"Wri- Phoenix? Uh..." Edgeworth shifted his head so he could see the other man's face, mostly his ear and a sliver of cheek.

"Phoenix?" Edgeworth gently disentangled his fingers and shook his friend's... maybe, dare he hope, something more, shoulder.

Phoenix only mumbled something incomprehensible, Edgeworth strained to hear, but he couldn't make it out... until

"Hed'hog..."

Edgeworth sighed, _what a lightweight._

FIN


End file.
